and many more benefits!

Find us on Facebook

GMAT Club Timer Informer

Hi GMATClubber!

Thank you for using the timer!
We noticed you are actually not timing your practice. Click the START button first next time you use the timer.
There are many benefits to timing your practice, including:

New Member - In Need of Some Basic Advice - Where to Start [#permalink]
01 Feb 2010, 12:42

Hi All,

***** I know these threads are probably really annoying, but I would really appreciate the help and to be pointed in the right direction *****

I'm new to this board and have just recently finally taken the first step towards taking my GMAT. For a bit of background, I've just graduated with my Bachelor of Commerce (MIS major) in December and have applied for Law School for next September (2010). I took my LSAT in September 2009 and scored in the 99th percentile. I am very interested in applying for a joint Law/MBA degree next year and so will be taking the GMAT. I will be working full time during the next 7 months before school starts up again, so would like to start prepping for the GMAT, but it might be at a somewhat "lighter" pace depending on my workload.

I've read through the beginner threads and FAQs and attempted a test with the GMATPrep software just to get a pretty good smack in the face as to my math skills. I used to be very good with math, acing high school, doing 2 years of Pure and Applied Science in College (CAL I through III, Linear Algebra and Stats), but I really haven't touched the stuff for a good 3-4 years now (since my 1st or 2nd semester of university). I honestly didn't even finish the GMATPrep test because I didn't see the point in guessing and/or cheating on the questions.

So I was wondering if you guys could give me a little advice as to where to start. The books I've got for my prep are:- The Official GMAT Review Guide (12th Edition)- The Official GMAT Verbal Review Guide- The Official GMAT Quantitative Review Guide- The 8 Manhattan books (Sentence correction, reading comp, critical reasoning, geometry, word translations, equations inequalities & vics, fractions decimals & percents, number properties)- The Kaplan GMAT Premier Live Online (2010 Edition)

With these, what should my study schedule look like? Which books should I start with and in what order (i.e. start with Manhattan before the Official GMAT guides? Do them at the same time? Etc).

I would really appreciate any help you can give me. I know it's harder (and more annoying) for you guys to tell me what I need to do without a diagnostic score, but I would really appreciate any advice at all. Thanks in advance!!

Re: New Member - In Need of Some Basic Advice - Where to Start [#permalink]
01 Feb 2010, 15:53

1

This post receivedKUDOS

Expert's post

Your books look fine - you have plenty of materials and probably very well prepared for the verbal section. You should be able to get a decent score on your GMAT within a Month with the math portion of the MGMAT Guides. Definitely would not take 7 months to study and instead something closer to 1-2. _________________

Re: New Member - In Need of Some Basic Advice - Where to Start [#permalink]
01 Feb 2010, 16:55

Hey,

Thanks for the reply. I might definitely not take that long if I don't need it, it's just all going to depend on how much time I can invest into the GMAT on a daily or weekly basis. Do you have any suggestions (or links) as to how (or in which order) to use these books? Should I go through the MGMAT ones before the official guides or does it not really matter? Should I also just read them cover to cover?

Re: New Member - In Need of Some Basic Advice - Where to Start [#permalink]
01 Feb 2010, 17:03

Expert's post

he4dhuntr wrote:

Hey,

Thanks for the reply. I might definitely not take that long if I don't need it, it's just all going to depend on how much time I can invest into the GMAT on a daily or weekly basis. Do you have any suggestions (or links) as to how (or in which order) to use these books? Should I go through the MGMAT ones before the official guides or does it not really matter? Should I also just read them cover to cover?

Thanks again for the help!

Cheers,

MGMAT first. The books will actually refer you to questions in the OG's _________________

Re: New Member - In Need of Some Basic Advice - Where to Start [#permalink]
01 Feb 2010, 18:20

1

This post receivedKUDOS

he4dhuntr,

Honestly, you might not even need all of those books.

The Critical Reasoning and Reading Comprehension portions of the verbal section should be a walk in the park for you, given that you did indeed score in the 99 percentile on the LSAT. However, the Sentence Correction portion might require you to brush on some grammar principles that the GMAC considers as "correct" or "preferable." The best way to tackle this is to grab the MGMAT Sentence Correction. Moreover, if you expect that SC may be more of a burden, then I suggest that you grab the PowerScore Sentence Correction Bible and begin with that. Reason being is that the bible breaks down important grammar concepts down to the core, as well as being very thorough, well-written, and easy-to-understand.

Now with the Quant portion. As you may already know, there's a unique question type (comprising 1/3 of the quant portion) that troubles many GMAT test-takers: DATA SUFFICIENCY. Because of DS's uniqueness and unfamiliarity, the only way for you to perform well on this section on test day is to practice. Although I've taken and performed well in Calc 1-3, Lin Algebra, Diff Eqns, I still had a tough time getting used to the DS format.

I have all the books that you mentioned and the book I least liked was Kaplan Premier. I skimmed and read like 5 pages of the quant portion and threw it back on the shelf. The strategies and concepts were too basic after I did half the MGMAT books. However, I did find the Kaplan strategy on RC to be OK.

Note on Jeff Sackmann's. I absolutely love this book. You can do a little research around the forums to see the good reviews for yourself. The only bad thing is that it's a little pricey for a PDF file ($50). I had to take it to my local Kinkos to print and bind a hard copy version but I found it to be a good investment. The content of his book gets straight to the point and is very easy to follow.

One more thing, buy at least ONE MGMAT book as this will allow you access to access 6 MGMAT CATs, which are arguably the best indicator of your performance next to GMATPrep.

Re: New Member - In Need of Some Basic Advice - Where to Start [#permalink]
01 Feb 2010, 22:11

1

This post receivedKUDOS

Take my advice with a grain of salt, a large one in fact, but if the GMAT test you took was a CAT (computer-based) then maybe you felt it was hard because you were doing really well. I wouldn't lose confidence because of that one test, and if you can, I think you should go back and complete it and judge yourself based on that score.

Re: New Member - In Need of Some Basic Advice - Where to Start [#permalink]
20 Apr 2010, 11:51

1

This post receivedKUDOS

Hey guys,

Just wanted to update you all that I took my GMAT yesterday (about 2 month of studying) and scored a 760 (Q 50, V 42)!! Super happy with the score. I'll be writing a debrief when I get my official scores back in about 20 days.

Thanks for all the help! This forum has definitely been a great resource. I've already added my scores to the GMAT Score Estimator as well.

P.S. I ended up going through all the quant MGMAT books and they were very helpful. I didn't read the RC and CR books due to already having those topics pretty pat from my LSAT studying. I read through the SC from cover to cover, but didn't do any of the problems in it due to lack of time. Tests, I took the two GMAT Preps, a couple of MGMAT CATs and one Kaplan Online 2010 CAT. Anyway, I'll put it all in more detail in my debrief.

Re: New Member - In Need of Some Basic Advice - Where to Start [#permalink]
20 Apr 2010, 18:00

Expert's post

he4dhuntr wrote:

Hey guys,

Just wanted to update you all that I took my GMAT yesterday (about 2 month of studying) and scored a 760 (Q 50, V 42)!! Super happy with the score. I'll be writing a debrief when I get my official scores back in about 20 days.

Thanks for all the help! This forum has definitely been a great resource. I've already added my scores to the GMAT Score Estimator as well.

P.S. I ended up going through all the quant MGMAT books and they were very helpful. I didn't read the RC and CR books due to already having those topics pretty pat from my LSAT studying. I read through the SC from cover to cover, but didn't do any of the problems in it due to lack of time. Tests, I took the two GMAT Preps, a couple of MGMAT CATs and one Kaplan Online 2010 CAT. Anyway, I'll put it all in more detail in my debrief.

Cheers,

WOW - that's 99th percentile. Congratulations!!! Definitley good move not studying for months You may want to document it a bit sooner than later - you will be amazed how much you will forget but definitely up to you.

Re: New Member - In Need of Some Basic Advice - Where to Start [#permalink]
22 Apr 2010, 08:43

Ya, I've already written my debrief down so that everything was fresh in my mind. I'm just going to add in the AWA stuff when I get my scores back and then post it up on the forums. It's pretty lengthy, I may have gone overboard with excitement We'll see.

Cheers,

gmatclubot

Re: New Member - In Need of Some Basic Advice - Where to Start
[#permalink]
22 Apr 2010, 08:43